Mendham misses a big chance and Hornets take advantage

MENDHAM Looking to cash in on a golden opportunity in last Friday night's s howdown with Hanover Park, Mendham coach Bill Carpluk took a gamble on breaking the game wide open.

Deadlocked at seven late in the third quarter and faced with a fourth and two at the Hanover Park three-yard line, Carpluk made the decision to go for the touchdown.

It was close too, as Steve Wenderfer's pass into the end zone was deflected by a defender and then in and out of the hands of Sal Specht.

Hanover Park then went 97 yards in the other direction in 19 plays and scored on a five-yard run by Mike Barrasso with 7:23 left in the game and held on to earn a 14-7 victory.

The victory gives Hanover Park the upper hand over Mendham in the race for the Iron Hills Conference-Hills Division title. Hanover Park is 6-0 overall and 5-0 in conference play. Mendham, 5-1 overall is 4-1 in the conference.

"We played well, but they defended the heck out of us," said Carpluk. "But so me bad things happened. We didn't convert when we had the chance, and we didn't stop them when we had to."

Junior Matt Lieberwirth put Mendham in the position for the go ahead score when he picked off a pass from Joe Gossweiler at Hanover Park's 28 and returned the b all to the 12-yard line.

A strong rush by Jesse Wells and Steve Kirsch forced Gossweiler out of the pocket and, desperate to escape the situation, his hurried throw ended up in the hands of Lieberwirth.

A pair of runs from Nick Rowe brought the ball down to the seven yard line. On third down, Wenderfer ran a bootleg to the left and was run out of bounds at the three by Hanover Park's Vin Finaldi. His pass on fourth down to Specht over the middle was broken up by Gossweiler.

"We had a fourth and two and we went for it," Carpluk said. "We did consider kicking (a field goal) in that situation, but it was just a real tough angle for the kick.

"We went for it on fourth and two because we figured, all right, if we don't ge t it here, we've got them backed up deep and we'd probably get another crack at the end zone. We really felt that we had a play that we could complete there for a touchdown."

Key Play Early

Mendham nearly stopped Hanover Park's game winning drive early on. The Hornets were in a fourth-and-one situation on their own 38 with 9:22 left in the game. After sending out the punting unit, Hanover Park coach John Liberato decided to g o for it and Gossweiler gained the first down with a quarterback keeper that went for two yards.

Mendham's defense was also tested on the march, forcing Hanover Park to convert in four third-down situations.

Mendham took a 7-0 advantage in the second quarter. Wenderfer drove his club 55 yards in eight plays and connected on a four-yard touchdown pass to Specht with 5:33 remaining in the first half. Specht, who caught four passes for 73 yards, made a nice catch as he had to wrestle the ball out of the hands of Gossweiler.

Hanover Park came back to tie the score with 45 seconds left in the first half o n BarrassoUs four-yard touchdown run around left end.

"To us, it was about offense," Carpluk said. "We had to put the ball in the end zone when we had the chance. We should have scored more than we did. This was a great contest. I thought our kids played well enough to win and didn't, and t heir kids played well enough to win and did. Both teams played hard."

With Hanover Park defending Mendham's running game so well, Carpluk went to the air.

Wenderfer completed six of his 19 passes for 119 yards and one touchdown.

"We had a lot of trouble running the ball consistently on them," Carpluk said. "We thought that we could get some things in the air, we just didn't do a good job with it. But the kids played hard and I was proud of their effort."

Rowe was the leading rusher for Mendham with 53 yards on 18 carries. Wenderfer, after missing on his first four passing attempts, settled down and threw a 43-ya rd strike to Specht for his first completion.

Mendham will play at Parsippany on Friday at 7 p.m.

"This was a tough one for the kids to take," Carpluk said. "I think they are going to be down, but we just have to come back and be ready for next week."

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